Rawat?s flipflop reveals deeper plot

THURSDAY?S DEVELOPMENTS in the Mehar Bhargava murder case were a virtual replay of Wednesday?s drama with the police still gunning for Sachin Pahadi even as mystery continued to deepen over who the actual killer is. First, came Sunny Rawat?s confession that was made before the media in the presence of superintendent of police (east) Rakesh Pradhan.

indiaUpdated: Mar 31, 2006 00:17 IST

HT Live Correspondent None

‘I did it, I did... No!’

THURSDAY’S DEVELOPMENTS in the Mehar Bhargava murder case were a virtual replay of Wednesday’s drama with the police still gunning for Sachin Pahadi even as mystery continued to deepen over who the actual killer is.

First, came Sunny Rawat’s confession that was made before the media in the presence of superintendent of police (east) Rakesh Pradhan. “Maine hi goli chalayi thi aur main kisi dabao mein ye nahi bol raha hoon” “I killed her” and “I am not making the confession under any pressure” was his short statement made before media persons. Rawat who was arrested on Wednesday had denied having shot at Mehar on Wednesday in the presence of the SSP.

But shortly after making the confession on Thursday, in the absence of the SSP, Rawat backtracked again. This time before court where he was produced for recording his statement. Before the magistrate, Rawat, denied having shot at Mehar on February 28.

The question now is why did Rawat confess having killed Mehar in the first place?

Did he make the confession under pressure? And why was the SSP missing when Rawat made that confession?

The Bhargavas, on their part, were reluctant to make any comment on Thursday.

“For us, the killer has been identified and that’s that. Now, it’s up to the police to look into the issue,” a family member said.

But then, Rawat, whose mother works as a maid servant, had no criminal antecedents. His neighbours at Chitwapur, Hussainganj too said they had never come across the boy involved in any suspicious activity.

Making an already complex case even more complicated were the contradictory statements of the SSP and SP (east).

For Sunil Pradhan, Rawat made the ‘confession’ on his own and without any pressure. “It appeared convincing,” he said. But, the SSP said, “Sachin Pahadi was still the prime target and Rawat’s confession would not have affected the investigation in any manner whatsoever.” He added, “Only after a thorough investigation would we be able to confirm who the real killer is, Sachin alias Amit or Sunny.” And if one went by the SSP’s statement, even if Rawat would have maintained that he shot at Mehar, the police would have continued to target Sachin Pahadi, who ‘miraculously’ escaped from the police net after the alleged encounter at Kaiserbagh. Rawat, on Wednesday, had alleged that it was Sachin Pahadi who had shot at Mehar following a brawl and that he (Rawat) was merely accompanying the shooter. Mehar’s driver—- the key eyewitness and complainant in the case and Kavita Bhargava, who was the victim of eve-teasing, both had identified Sunny as the killer when he was paraded before them on Wednesday.

And amidst all this, Sachin Pahadi, who the cops claimed was ‘hit’ in the alleged encounter on Wednesday, kept on eluding the police net.